Spain PM says 'fire' coming under control as death rate drops

The daily death toll from the coronavirus fell to 683 in Spain on Thursday, after rising for two days, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urging people to keep up the fight against the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The country, one of the worst hit by the pandemic, has now recorded 15,238 coroanvirus deaths.

The official daily toll was down from 757 on Wednesday.

However, there has been growing speculation that the death toll may have grossly underestimated.

Authorities in the Madrid region acknowledged on Wednesday that the number of deaths in retirement homes could be five times as high as that announced by health officials, who have not included almost 3,500 deaths of people who had not been tested for the virus.

The number of daily new cases also dropped slightly Thursday, bringing the total to 152,446. More than 50,000 have recovered.

Spanish authorities have indicated that the peak of the pandemic has been reached but asked citizens to continue to strictly respect confinement regulations.

"The fire started by the pandemic is starting to come under control," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told parliament on Thursday.

"Our priority now is not to turn back, especially not to return to our starting point, not to lower our guard."